{"id":11287,"date":"2012-08-06T10:58:21","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T14:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=11287"},"modified":"2012-08-06T10:58:21","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T14:58:21","slug":"north-country-snapshot-the-struggle-to-rebuild-after-the-mills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/08\/06\/north-country-snapshot-the-struggle-to-rebuild-after-the-mills\/","title":{"rendered":"North Country Snapshot: The Struggle To Rebuild After The Mills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NHPR<\/p>

The North Country has struggled economically since the closure of the paper mill in Berlin.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tomorrow morning on NHPR, we\u2019ll hear from Rollie Leclerc, a third-generation North Country mill worker who has been laid off and re-hired twice<\/em>.\u00a0 Rollie’s story is the seventh and final part of our series \u201cGetting By, Getting Ahead<\/a>,\u201d examining how people across New Hampshire\u2019s regions are navigating a recovering economy.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>___<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, business news coverage coming out of the North Country<\/a> has taken on a patina of predictability.\u00a0 A factory is closing, and dozens — or even hundreds — of unskilled workers are now jobless.<\/p>\n

In response, the region hopes to get federal funding, a new casino, a better tourism marketing campaign — something, anything<\/em> to staunch the economic bleeding.\u00a0Sometimes there is good news, like the reopening of the paper mill in Gorham<\/a>. And in\u00a0Berlin, there’s a new biomass plant under construction<\/a> and a new federal prison set to open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But good economic news is in painfully short supply.<\/p>\n

What Makes The North Country Different<\/h3>\n

While New Hampshire as a whole is one of a handful of states doing relatively well in a sluggish national economy, the North Country<\/a> isn’t feeling it.\u00a0In the 2011 edition of its “What Is New Hampshire<\/a>?” report, the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies<\/a> summed up the region’s challenges with a handful of statistics:<\/p>\n

“Average income per taxpayer in the Great North Woods is half of the state average, and the average weekly wage of $594 is the lowest in the state.<\/p>\n

The region’s remoteness, as well as the scarcity of economic infrastructure like high-speed wireless Internet, poses challenges for revitalization and growth.\u00a0 In 2009, the Great North Woods had the highest unemployment rate in New Hampshire: 7.8 percent ….<\/p>\n

The portion of the adult population with a bachelor’s degree, at 14.1 percent, is the lowest of any region in New Hampshire and less than half the statewide rate of 32 percent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Add to that assessment the fact that the North Country has the state’s highest median age at about 48 years old; it has the largest proportion of people over the age of 65; and it doesn’t draw many new residents to replenish the aging workforce. It seems like a ready-made recipe for long-term economic hardship.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t always that way.<\/p>\n

How Everything Changed<\/h3>\n

Related<\/h4>
Posts<\/h5>